Kembali Courses

HMS Cricket

HMSCricket was a Royal Navy Insect-class gunboat launched on 17 December 1915. During the WW1, HMS Cricket took part in the Mesopotamian Campaign as part of the gunboat squadron operating on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. During the Russian Civil War, she served as part of the British intervention forces fighting in support of White Russian forces on the Dvina River during 1919-1920. WW2 saw Cricket deployed in China until 1940 then transferred to the Mediterranean. In July 1941 she was crippled in an air attack by the Italian royal air force led by Major Giuseppe Cenni. One of Cenni’s crew took the famous photo of her during the attack.

She was declared a total loss on 30 June 1942, stripped for spares and towed to Cyprus to be used as a target for RAF training. Finally sank in 1947, she now rests upside down at a depth of 27m. The seabed dips under the wreck allowing divers to explore the inside the hull and the vessel is also home to an abundance of fish life.